Motorized vehicles include a power plant (e.g., engine or electric motor) that produces driving power. The driving power is transferred through a transmission to a driveline for driving a set of wheels at selected gear ratios. As is well known, automatic transmissions shift automatically to the appropriate gear ratio based on various vehicle operating conditions including speed and torque. Typically, a desired transmission operating mode or range is selected by the vehicle operator. The ranges provided by most automatic transmissions generally include Park, Neutral, Reverse and Drive. In Drive, the automatic transmission automatically shifts between three, four, five or even six different forward gear ratios based on the vehicle operating conditions.
Traditionally, a driver interface device is provided which the vehicle operator shifts to select the desired transmission range. The driver interface device is linked to the automatic transmission by a range shift mechanism which typically includes a series of interconnected mechanical devices such as levers, push/pull rods, cables and the like. The number and size of such mechanical components make it difficult to package the range shift mechanism  between the driver interface device and the transmission and can add significant frictional resistance to the overall system. As a result, the overall cost for design, manufacture and assembly of the vehicle is increased.
In an attempt to address such issues related to mechanically-shifted transmission range shift mechanisms, several “shift-by-wire” range shift mechanisms have been developed. Typically, a shift-by-wire range shift mechanism is based on an external system having an electric motor for controlling movement of the transmission's manual shaft to the desired range select position. Switches associated with the driver interface device send a mode signal to a transmission controller that is indicative of the selected transmission range. Thereafter, the controller actuates the electric motor to move the transmission manual shaft to the corresponding range select position. Drawbacks of conventional shift-by-wire systems include the size and weight of the external motor, the associated packaging issues related to the motor, the cost of the motor and the controller and the undesirable failure modes associated with such a device.